


together or not at all

by icemakestars



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: M/M, Mutual Pining, Protectiveness, Tartaros Arc (Fairy Tail)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-09
Updated: 2018-12-09
Packaged: 2019-09-14 14:20:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16914486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/icemakestars/pseuds/icemakestars
Summary: Gray was protective, and confident, and strong. He made it easy to love him.





	together or not at all

Gray appears from nowhere, shielding Natsu, protecting him. Natsu blinks in shock slowly, the battle around him falling away. The body in front of him is bloody, and marred with scars, and yet still stands strong and confident. 

“If something is important to you, don’t ever let go of it.”

His voice was gravelly, and shook. Natsu clutched Igneel’s scarf tighter, wishing it was Gray that he was holding. Natsu shook his head, forcing himself to stand. There was a time and a place for affectionate thoughts and this... this was not one of them.

Gray was a welcome distraction from the battle, and Natsu let himself focus on the man he loved instead of his own fear, or insecurities; he could not fail with Gray by his side. He made Natsu stronger, more confident. Natsu would be lost without him.

Their hands find each other, and Natdu does not let himself get distracted by the weight of Gray’s fingers, or how they slide so perfectly in next to his own. Their magics fuse, souls becoming one, and it’s overwhelming, and perfect, and Natsu cannot comprehend it, yet simultaneously needs more of the feeling. More of Gray.

Mard Geer smirks at them, muttering a spell that has black smoke clinging to them, it’s tendrils needle-like and stabbing into their bodies insistently. A second passes where Natsu is lost, and he does not know where he is, or who he is, or if he should fight the feeling or succumb to it. But then Gray’s familiar form is in front of him, shielding him from the brute force of the attack. 

“All I can do now... is entrust the future to you, Natsu.” 

Gray collapses, blood dripping from his mouth and body going still, and Natsu cannot contain himself; he cries out Gray’s name, long and desperate, his voice breaking around the familiar syllables. Mard Geer speaks again, but Natsu’s sharp ears do not catch what he says. The magic rushing through him is too loud, too bright, and Natsu can feel himself brimming, overflowing, until he’s falling through the sky and Mard Geer is laughing, mocking his weakness.

But it is not weakness.

Natsu smiles to himself knowingly, the air whipping past him at an almost painful speed. He can sense it, can sense him.

“I believe in you too.” 

When he looks down, his feelings are confirmed, and Gray is standing proudly, poised for attack. He releases the arrow he had balanced, and the way his body moves, with fluidity and grace despite being mangled and maimed, is enough to have Natsu’s heart beating erratically, and he thinks that maybe he falls a little bit more in love.

Because Gray is his weakness, and his strength; he is everything to Natsu, even if he does not realise it. 

Mard Geer falls, and before Natsu can catch his breath he pulls Gray into his arms. Their embrace is short, but it fills Natsu with the confidence he needs to finish this battle with Tartarus. 

Their eyes meet, and there’s something familiar in Gray’s, something Natsu recognises within himself and yet still cannot place. They nod at each other, allowing a small smile to pass between them, their own victory celebration, and then they split up, not needing to stay together. Their confidence in one another is enough. 

Natsu looks back only for a second, and falters when he sees that Gray has stopped and is looking at him too. It’s an incentive, something to spur him to survive and find out if his intuition is correct, if Gray’s feelings mirror his own. They would finish this war, and they would move on, and they would laugh and cry and love, in the same way that they did everything; together, or not at all. 


End file.
